CWS.ATR.TM.2013.HR

Annual Technical Report 2013 on Trademark Information Activities submitted by Croatia (CWS/ATR/TM/2013/HR)

Where URLs are requested below, it is preferred that either URLs which are likely to remain stable over time (three years or more) are provided, or home (main) page URLs are provided with a short explanation of how to access the corresponding information.

I. GENERAL OVERVIEW OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN TRADEMARK INFORMATION ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

Statistics: changes in terms of application filings and registrations with respect to previous year; trends or areas experiencing rapid changes

The number of trademark applications filed by national route shows the decrease of 13.3% in comparison with the previous year. The number of trademarks applicants that renounced the application in the final phase of payment for the maintenance for the first ten years and for the publication of the trademark registration was at 7% against the total number of applications in 2013. The legal institute of reinstatements of rights as a relief measure was used by 27% of those applicants who missed the time limits for the payments of maintenance fees.

In 2013 the majority of national applications were filed in class 35 and 41 followed by the classes 09, 16 and 05.

The number of national registrations increased for 13.5% in comparison with the previous year partly because the total number of applications for the examination decreased.

The number of international applications (designations HR) and proportionally the number of international registrations (designations HR) continues to fall as a consequence of the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union. In comparison to the previous year the number of international applications decreased 13% while the number of international registration decreased 20%.

The number of international registrations (office of origin HR) in 2013 decreased for 15% in comparison with the 2012

tmstatistics2013

II. SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO TRADEMARK INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

Information and support provided by the Office to applicants regarding filing on paper and/or e-filing (instructions, seminars, etc.) – URLs

Filing on paper (instructions, Trademark Examination Guidelines):
http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/obrasci/zig/Uputa_zig.pdf
http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/eng/Pat_pub/Trademark/guidelines-mrk-en.pdf

E-filing :
http://www.dziv.hr/hr/e-usluge/e-prijava/

Clasification – list of goods and services (instructions and proprietary application):
http://www.dziv.hr/hr/intelektualno-vlasnistvo/zigovi/medjunarodna-klasifikacija-proizvoda-i-usluga/pretrazivanje-tmclass/

Availability of the application dossier in electronic form

Official Gazette:
http://www.dziv.hr/en/the-croatian-intellectual-property-gazette/

Trademark search:
http://www.dziv.hr/hr/e-usluge/pretrazivanje-baza-podataka/zig/ (HR)
http://www.dziv.hr/en/e-services/on-line-database-search/trademarks/ (EN)

The information regarding published trademark applications and registrations is also available in the Office database containing public data from the Trademarks register, accessible through the Office website, free of charge. A range of search options is available including: Application Date, Registration Data, Proprietor, Attorney, Mark, Nice Class, Vienna class, Appearance, Register number.
The Office maintains a complete history of its trademark files in paper form (except files that are filed electronically/through e-filling) and all information for trademarks applied from the year 2000 to date in electronic form.
With the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union the same trade mark information is available in the TMview database (common search tool for trademarks of participating trade mark offices, at national, international and EU level).

Matters concerning classifying
(i) Classification and reclassification activities; classification systems used, e.g., International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification), International Classification of the Figurative Elements of Marks (Vienna Classification), other classification
(ii) Use of electronic classification systems and pre-defined terms of the classification applied

The Nice Classification Systems of Goods and Services 10th edition, is used for the registration of marks.
TMclass as a common tool of the Office for Harmonization at the Internal Market of the European Union and the participating national offices containing pre-defined terms of the classification is at the disposal that helps applicants with the classification of goods and services. The Office is supplying data to TMclass among other participating Offices. The database of pre-defined terms is available in Croatian language. The Office developed proprietary database assisting applicants to generate list of goods and services from the TMclass in the proper format:
http://www.dziv.hr/hr/intelektualno-vlasnistvo/zigovi/medjunarodna-klasifikacija-proizvoda-i-usluga/
The classification specialist of the Office checks if the correct classification and wording is used in line with the common set of principles of the Trademarks Offices of the European Offices.
For figurative marks Vienna classification (7th edition) is applied. The mark is classified in Vienna classification by the Office as a part of formal processing of the application.

Matters concerning processing of different types of non-traditional marks (e.g., three-dimensional, motion, hologram, color mark, etc.)

For the three-dimensional marks a photograph or a drawing of a representation of a sign is required; the application may be accompanied by not more than six different views of a representation of a sign from different perspectives, the representations being of the same sign
For the color marks the colors shall be listed and described in the application along with the relevant color mark from the internationally recognized system of color identification.
For the sound marks a representation of musical notation is required.

III. SOURCES OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE

Main types of publications in the field of trademark information, outline of the content and medium (on paper, on CDs, online – URLs)

Trademarks registers search:
http://www.dziv.hr/hr/e-usluge/pretrazivanje-baza-podataka/zig/ (HR)
http://www.dziv.hr/en/e-services/on-line-database-search/trademarks/ (EN),

Official Gazette :
http://www.dziv.hr/en/the-croatian-intellectual-property-gazette/

Official Gazettes: main types of announcements, frequency of publication, medium (on paper, on CDs, online, URL), etc.

Since the 2006 Official Gazette of the SIPO is published monthly, and starting with the issue No. 05/2009 of May 2009 the Office discontinued publishing the Gazette in printed version and publishes it since only as an electronic publication. From October 2013 the frequency of Gazette’s publication has increased to every two weeks publication. The Gazette is fully available free of charge in the PDF-format at the official Office's web site http://www.dziv.hr/en/the-croatian-intellectual-property-gazette/, including the archive of the earlier editions (since the beginning of the electronic publication only). The gazette is also published on CD-ROM as an annual collection or individual publication at the request of a user (against the payment).The Official Gazette contains the published data on trademarks: Publication of Trademark Applications, Trademark application Indexes by Numbers, Classification Symbols and Applicants, Publication of Record of Changes to the Register of Trademark Applications, Publication of Information on International Registration so f Marks for which Protection has been requested in the Republic of Croatia, Publication of Trademarks, Trademark Indexes by Numbers, Classification Symbols and Owners, Publication of Changes Entered into the Trademark Register, Publication of Trademark Extensions and Publication of Trademarks Expirations.

Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) available to examiners, including external documentation and databases

The application “Trademarks Register” is used for filing all bibliographic data concerning the particular trademark. All trademark changes (change of ownership, change of name, address, licence, etc.) are recorded and are maintained by Trademark Register user interface..Since year 2000 the Office has developed its own document management system in electronic form, which covers office needs (all incoming and outgoing documents have been scanned in Adobe Acrobat).International trademark data in XML format are weekly downloaded from the WIPO’s ftp site. After processing data are available through the application “MECA”. Those data are used for examination and publication purposes and serve as a basis for the proprietary web application for substantive examination of the international trademarks.
Published trademark data (applications/grants) can be searched at the Office’s web site http://www.dziv.hr/en/e-services/on-line-database-search/trademarks/Access to the databases: from the relevant web pages are also available and also used for information services<. ROMARIN, TMclass, TMview, International Non-proprietary Names (INNs) for Pharmaceutical Substances, Geographical Indications protected in the EU, Geographical Indications protected in Croatia.

Information products (coverage, medium, etc.) and services available to external users; conditions of access (e.g., free of charge, subscription, etc.)

General information regarding the trademarks and trademark registration procedures are provided free of charge. They can be obtained face-to-face at the Office’s information centre (acronym INCENTIVE), by phone, via fax, e-mail or posted letter, and are also available at the Office’s web site: http://www.dziv.hr/hr/intelektualno-vlasnistvo/zigovi/. Professional search services of the trademark databases as well as registry extracts are available upon user’s request against payment. Standard trademark search services include trademark similarity search, search by trademark owner, bibliographic data printouts, trademark monitoring and competition watch. The Office is partner in the CETMOS service offering trademark searches in national and international trademark registers of nine central-European countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia). CETMOS service is available upon a single request, covering all the participating states, and is delivered within short deadlines and at favourable fees. Several hundreds of trademark data searches are performed each year (576 in 2013 vs. 812 in 2012). Tailor-made search services are also available against the appropriate payment.

Legal status information (kind of information, coverage, medium, etc.)

Detailed legal status information are available in the Trademarks Register, while the basic information on the legal status are available on the Office's web site : http://www.dziv.hr/en/e-services/on-line-database-search/trademarks/

IV. ICT SUPPORT TO SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES RELATED TO TRADEMARK INFORMATION CARRIED OUT BY THE OFFICE

Specific software tools supporting business procedures within the Office: general description, characteristics, advantages, possible improvements

A wide set of software tools has been developed in-house to support business procedures of the Office, providing a range of tools for efficient processing of the applications and other documents. Office's software system is in the process of migration to a new (open-source platform).
The newly developed Office proprietary web application assists applicants to generate in the proper format a list of goods and services from the TMclass pre-defined classification terms database, and helps examiners to check the regularity of the list of goods and services submitted by applicants:http://www.dziv.hr/hr/intelektualno-vlasnistvo/zigovi/medjunarodna-klasifikacija-proizvoda-i-usluga/.
The Office proprietary web application for substantial examination of the international trademark registrations (designations HR) using data from MECA (Madrid Electronic Communications System) and enables rendering XML and PDF files that are uploaded to the WIPO ftp site through the MECA input system. Also, the same system enables rendering and uploading Grant of Protection data in XML format.
Electronic Trademark register and other related software tools support the processing of the applications throughout the granting procedures.

Hardware used to supporting business processes of the Office

- 20Mbit/s leasedlineused for Internet connection,
-CISCO NetworkEquipment (LAN based on FastEthernet - 1000/100/10 Mbit/s).

SERVERS:
Allservers are virtualizedunderVMware (except mail server)
-VMwarevSphere 5 Essentials Plus Kit for 3 hosts, 192 GB RAM
-PhysicalServers: -Dell PowerEdge R610 64GRAM; 12 x CPU Intel Qeon
-Dell PowerEdge R620 64GRAM; 8 x CPU Intel Qeon
-Dell PowerEdge R620 64GRAM; 8 x CPU Intel Qeon

Virtualizedservers are on thefollowingoperatingsystems:
- Win SERVER 2008 R2 Enterprise
- Win SERVER 2003 St. Ed.
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- SUSE Linux Enterprise 10
- Debian GNU/Linux 6

Mail Server:
- MS Exchange 2010 Server Enterprise,
- Physical Server : Fujitsu RX300 S5
- OS Win SERVER 2008 R2 Enterprise
- Workstations: Desktop-PC Pentium IV with WIN XP PROF or WIN 7., Notebooks – OS – MS WIN 7.

Storage
- SAN
- twoFiberCAT CX500 (EMC) devices. Eachofthemhastwo-serviceprocessorand 10 disksin -RAID-5 system (9 x 146 Gb FC disks + 1 x 146 Gb FC hotspare disk).
- NAS
- NetApp DATA ONTAP Release 8.0.2P4
- IBM N3400, 12x600GB SAS, 24x 1TB SATA disks

Backupsoftware
- SYMC BACKUP EXEC 2012 Server WinPer Server Bndl
- SYMC BACKUP EXEC 2012 OptionNdmpWinPer Server

Backupdevice
- Dell PowerVault TL2000.

Internal databases: coverage, updates, interlinks with external sources

The bibliographic data are stored in trademark database and trademark images are stored in a network file directory. They are interlinked by different software tools. Data coverage is a complete set of trademark data since year 2000 and partial data since 1991 (when the office was established).

Establishment and maintenance of electronic search file: file building, updating, storage, documents from other offices included in the search file

The Office does not carry out examination of the relative grounds as a part of the granting procedure so no search file is build in the processing of application. Published trademark data (applications/grants) can be searched at the Office's web site through the web-server application (MS Windows 2003 server and mySQL database).

V. PROMOTION ACTIVITIES AIMED TO SUPPORT USERS IN ACCESS AND EFFICIENT USE OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION

Office’s library (if deals with trademark information): equipment, collection management, network of libraries in the country, cooperation with foreign libraries

The Office’s Library:
http://www.dziv.hr/hr/informacije-usluge/knjiznica (HR)
http://www.dziv.hr/en/sipo-information-services/library/(EN)
The Office’s Library operates within the Office’s information centre (acronym INCENTIV). Library public services include access to the collections and in the reading room, available to public during the working hours of INCENTIV. Browsing of Library collections isavailable at the premises and on-line at Office’s web page (http://knjiznica.dziv.hr/). User inquiries and reservation requests could also be made via e-mail knjiznica@dziv.hr. The collections contain numerous books and periodicals, primarily in the field of IP or related fields, and are catalogued in the database which is regularly maintained.

Publications related to different business procedures and trademark information sources available to users, for example, books, brochures, Internet publications, etc.

The Office’s Library:
http://www.dziv.hr/hr/informacije-usluge/knjiznica/ (HR)
http://www.dziv.hr/en/sipo-information-services/library/ (EN)
Trademark Examination Guidelines:
http://www.dziv.hr/prirucnici/hr_guidelines/hr/hrmrk.htm (HR)
http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/eng/Pat_pub/Trademark/guidelines-mrk-en.pdf (EN)
Trademark leaflets:
http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/obrasci/zig/brosura_zig.pdf (basic information on trademarks in Croatian language)
http://www.dziv.hr/files/File/eng/Pat_pub/Trademark/Letak_zig_EN.pdf (trademark search services)

Cooperation with universities, technology and innovation support centers, etc.

The Office has a developed cooperation with a range of partners, including universities, technology and innovation support centres, development agencies etc.

Education and training: training courses, e-learning modules (URLs), seminars, exhibitions, etc.

Some of the lectures and related events organized in 2013:
„Retrieval and use of IP information“,
Faculty of Chemical Engineering andTechnology, University of Zagreb, February, 2013;
„Intellectual Property and inovations in the light of state aid“,
In cooperation with Ministry of entrepreneurship and crafts, Zagreb, February, 2013;
„Basics of Intellectual Property for entrepreneurs and scientists“,
Tera Tehnopolis (technology center), Osijek, April 2013;
„Trademark and Industrial Design“,
Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb, May, 2013;
„Searching of IP databases“,
Vern Polytechnics, Zagreb, June, 2013;
Study visit of the students of Law Faculty in Rijeka to the Office, Zagreb, December 2013.

Workshops organized in 2013:
„Value of Intellectual Property, for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises“, June 2013
„Training of Trainers„ for Consumers Society, Zagreb, June 2013
„Intellectual Property Rights“,Workshop for Judicial Academy, Zagreb, October 2013.

Promotional events organized in 2013:
“Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy”, public awareness campaign, Rovinj, July 2013;
“SASO 2013 - International trade fair”, information boot, Split, December 2013.

VI. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES IN THE FIELD OF TRADEMARK INFORMATION

International exchange of trademark information in machine-readable form (e.g., Official Gazettes)

In the framework of Croatia’s accession to the European Union, in 2013 the Office commenced exchange of the trademark information in machine-readable form with the Office for Harmonization on the Internal Mark of the European Union (OHIM), supplying the data to the common public database TMview that includes trademark data from the OHIM, national offices of EU member states and other participating offices.

Participation in international or regional activities and projects related to trademark information

The Office participates in Convergence programs, Cooperation Fund projects and Liaison meetings with other national trademark offices of the European Union member states and the Office for the Harmonization in the Internal Market of the European Union (OHIM).

Common Tools:
TMview: integration of the Office trademark data into common search tool for trademarks of
participating trade mark offices, at national, international and EU level.
TMclass: supplying data to the common tool among other participating Offices for the
classification of goods and services into the correct classes.

Convergence programs of the national trademark offices of the EU member states and the OHIM:

Harmonization of Classsification
Class Scopes
Absolute Grounds – Figurative Marks
Relative Grounds – Likelihood of Confusion
Scope of Protection– Black&White Marks.

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